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Tuesday, 29 December 2015

Release Blast: Till Death Us Do Part by Cristina Slough

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TILL DEATH US DO PART

Cristina Slough

Releasing Dec 29th, 2015

Limitless Publishing

The fateful day Mimi Marcus has
dreaded begins with a phone call...

The wife of a U.S. Marine, Mimi
spent countless nights worried that her husband Joel would fall in the line of
duty. He had fought valiantly and served his country with honor. That’s exactly
what they tell her when they deliver the news—Joel was taken by the enemy in
Afghanistan. Her husband is dead.

In desperate need of closure, Mimi
travels to the one place Joel still has ties—The Marcus Ranch in Texas,
inherited by his handsome younger brother Austin.

New beginnings are only an
illusion...

The closer Mimi grows to the Marcus
family, the more she considers it home. But when suspicions of Joel’s past
surface, Austin refuses to disclose family secrets—even to his brother’s widow.
It’s only by accident she uncovers evidence of Joel’s tainted past. Devastated
by his lies and betrayal, she slowly opens up to Austin, and together they unfold
layers of pain and grief.

Mimi is
sure she’ll never love again, but is Austin the man to prove her wrong? Then
the unthinkable happens…

Just as Mimi finds new hope in a
future with Austin, Joel returns home from war. Enraged, traumatized, and
teetering on the edge of insanity, Joel confesses to a history of deception,
revealing yet another secret—this one too terrible to forgive.

In an
awful twist of fate, Joel proves marriage vows are made to be honored.

No matter what.

Excerpt

She took the palm of her hand and wiped her face. “You don’t mean that.” She paused and looked at him. “Do you?”

“Yes, this is so fucked up Mimi. You don’t belong to me. You belong to him.”

“But…God, Austin, I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking or feeling.”

“I don’t care. The truth is, I got caught up in everything with you. I felt sorry for you; I pitied you.”

“Austin stop,” she cried “You don’t mean that.”

“Mimi, I do. The truth is. You were my final up-yours to my dear brother.”

“You’re lying.”

He took his hands out of his jean pockets and placed them on her sunken shoulders and looked firmly into her eyes. “Yes I do. Everything I told you about loving you was a lie. And this, what we had was nothing but revenge. Joel played it well, the son of a bitch. He even cheated death. Now get your goddam bags packed and get the hell out of my life.”

She jolted back, falling out of his grip.

Austin stood in silence after the hard slap connected across his left check; it caught his lip, making it bleed. She turned on her heel and ran away, her long hair flowing in the breeze behind her. He stood there for a second, but it seemed like an hour. He walked a little, and then for the first time in his adult life, he cried.

The digital clock read 2 am. He gazed out of the window. The sky was tar-black, the large clouds gathered fast and furiously. Soon, the gentle specs of rain flicked against the window. As it grew heavier, the tarmac on the car-park soon turned into a black river. He saw a man quicken his pace and slip into a beaten old truck. He opened the door, letting the rain fall on him, drenching through his clothes. He moved out into the stormy weather, needing to wash away the hurt that lay inside him.

He remembered having this feeling once before, after the death of his father. It was then that the divide between him and his brother had become even greater. It had torn them apart, ripping them at the seams. Austin had stolen Joel’s father, and now he was taking his wife. He had no control over the first time, but he swore that he wouldn’t let Austin win this time.

Blood pounded in his ears; he was still at war, but this time with himself.

Novelist, movie addict, and animal lover, Cristina Slough is the author of Till Death Us Do Part, her debut novel.

Cristina has always been a bookworm, rarely seen without a pen and paper in her hand, she loves delving into a literacy fictional world of her own.

At the age of 11, her junior school teacher told her mother that she would be wasting her life if she didn’t become an author. Throughout her teenage years and beyond, her parents spurred her on to keep writing. She later began a career in commercial real estate, working in London’s West End, a corporate bubble where she was unable to fuel her passion to write.

It was on her Californian honeymoon in 2012 that the bug to write was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. After visiting Yosemite National Park she was inspired by the natural beauty of the land that surrounded her. Holding a special place in her heart, Yosemite would later be written into her debut novel.

She finally gave up the ‘big smoke’ when her son, Lucas, was born in October 2013.

When Lucas was a newborn, Cristina was told to sleep when the baby sleeps. She never could. There was a calling inside her to write. After getting to grips with her new role as a mother, she began working a psychological thriller, but she couldn’t fully connect to the characters she created. She ditched the manuscript and started Till Death Us Do Part (Limitless Publishing, 2015).

Cristina is married to Adam, who runs a successful business; together they share their Bedfordshire home with their son, crazy white German Shepherd and three spoiled cats. They can be found trekking through woodlands, or around the many shops Cristina loves to explore. As a family, they love to travel frequently, the United States being a firm favorite.